As America was reminded this weekend of the Terrorists attack on the WTC ten years ago, many people reflected on where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the Terrorists attacks on our soil. I was in a meeting in a DuPont conference room when the HR manager broke in and said a plane had hit the Twin Towers. Most of us spent the rest of the day catching up on the events as they unfolded.
Many of us recall similar situations on other historical events. For my generation, most everyone can tell you where they were when President Kennedy was shot. I was coming out of a class in the Engineering Building at Lamar University when Bobby Kinnear stopped and told me. I also recall that I was visiting the Safety Supervisor in the Chambers Works, NJ plant when I learned of the Challenger exploding.
The more I thought about these events, the more events I began to recall details.
In 1956 Buster Coats told me in the court yard at Bingman Elementary School that Don Larsen had pitched a perfect game. I didn't like the Yankees and I didn't want to believe this bit of information.
I also remember the first time I met George Fortune. It was on a sand pile between our houses when we were both seven years old. I remember when I first met Bobby Katz. It was in Mrs Fore's fourth grade class. He was wearing brown shoes while the rest of us went barefoot. I thought he was a strange kid to wear shoes to class.
Do you remember where you were, when...?
Memory ain't what it used to be. Shouldn't you have been at MacArthur when Larson pitched the perfect game. October 1956. 7th grade? (Sullivan posted a nice piece on this a couple of weeks ago, but I can't find it now. Study showed the more sure you were about a memory, the less likely it is that you had it right).
ReplyDeleteI specifically remember ironing a shirt when Pam called to tell me the towers had been hit and I told her I was suprised it didn't happen more often. I turned on the TV and saw the second tower hit, immediately knew what happened and hauled ass to work with a half-ironed shirt.
However, Pam swears she didn't get to work until after the second tower was hit, so she didn't call me until then. And it seems quite unlikely I would have gone into the office before noon on Tuesday, which were heavy with night meetings to cover.
However, I know exactly where I was when the Challenger exploded. Becky Case had applied to be the teacher on that mission and had made it past a round or two before being eliminated. We were gathered in her class watching it. Someone said that should be you Miss Case, and about five seconds later ...